Well, before you start rolling your eyes and wondering what any of that has to do with writing, let me just move it along.

As we were waiting in the line, I noticed there was a box filled with notebooks in various colors and designs and anyone who knows me well knows I can’t resist a giant box of stationary.

So, as I’m browsing the books, one leaps out at me. The color screamed at me and from the woman on the cover, I could envision clearly the character who’s story would be told within it. Immediately I snatched it up and clung to it like life itself.

My sister, being well aware of this little fetish of mine, only giggled. Then her eyes got big and as I followed her gaze, I found the next one which would grace my collection. Only this one was larger than your average 8.5”x11” notebook and it had my current story’s heroine emblazoned on the cover.

Still you might be asking what any of this has to do with writing (apart from the obvious). Let me tell you something amazing that happened when I got them both home…

They inspired me to write. Like a madwoman.

In the current novel (by the way, I have an interesting announcement about it coming up), there is a character I introduced late in the game and then suddenly realized she played a larger role than I originally thought. When I had this epiphany, I decided that I would go back and map out her story so I could get to know her better.

After the first few paragraphs, it fizzled for a while. I had the basic idea of who she was, but it wasn’t quite enough to make her more than a cardboard cutout character and thus, everything sort of stalled.

When I picked up the red notebook, however, her story suddenly smacked me upside the head. Not only did I delve more into the character’s psyche, but it ended up developing into its own self-contained short story of a pivotal point in her life: how she came to be who she is.

My point is, never underestimate the inspirational powers of a notebook. Like the perfect song, it can help push you forward when you believe you can go no further.

Up next…The Power of the Pen.

(I hadn’t intended on writing anything about the pen, that was just a cute closing line, but as I think more about it, I do believe I’ll write about the pen too because I can be insanely picky when it comes to my writing tools.)

It also happens to be when the ideas tend to come to me; sometimes I’m good about remembering them when I wake up, other times not so much. That’s why I’m here to preach the importance of having a notebook and pen sitting next to your bed (or wherever you happen to sleep).

Last night, as I was drifting to sleep, a fragment of an idea the size of a diamond fleck came to me. The Sandman had given me an extra dose, so I was fighting it as I clawed my way onto my side and grabbed the notebook off the nightstand, luckily the pen rolled onto the bed with it.

I scribbled that first small thought. Then another followed. Before long, I had the page completely filled with gems that I would need to gently thread into a story. But, I also had something I was not expecting.

Some time ago, I’d say about six months, I had developed a general premise for a story. No matter which way I spun it, however, it never quite felt right to me. I already had the title, which I loved, so I just let it sit. When I had finished scribbling my notes, I realized that one of the lines was the title to that story that never quite wanted to be written. Until now.

Stories are strange creatures. Some will let you know the moment they are conceived, but will force you into a gestation period–like the one above. Others won’t let you know they’ve been conceived until you’re delivering it right on the page.

Following the second draft of the first chapter, I sent it out for a quick critique and one of the responses I received mentioned that my male lead had revealed more of himself this time around, which is a splendid thing.

I’m trying to do the same thing for the second chapter, but I’m finding it a bit difficult to slip out of my male lead’s head and into the female lead’s. They have two distinct voices and I need for that to come through in the writing and style.

Rather than spend time revising chapter 2 today, I do believe I will spend that time interviewing my female lead.

Plus, I’m certain it would help if I could come up with that elusive scene song that captures the mood and mindset of the character.

Before, I would run off the entire novel (at least, what I had), then read it through and just mark it as I went. Now, I’m only printing off one chapter at a time, beginning from the first. The goal is to tighten up the scenes, edit the language and errors, and overall, polish it, then move on to the next.

As I’m finishing up with Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell (which is a marvelous book, by the way), I’ve made some wonderful notes about scene construction that I plan to put into use, the main one being the HIP method.

1. Hook readers early
2. Intensify the scene
3. Prompt the reader to push forward

I’m proud to say that it’s the layout I’ve been following for the majority of my chapters so far, but the golden revelation for me was the section on prompts. Unfortunately, while I was aiming to push the reader forward, I found myself making one grievous mistake: ending the scene on a boring note such as having someone drive or walk away. Erm, not good.

So, a good portion of the week will be spent making my chapters end on a note that says to the reader, you must find out what happens next.

On another note, editing each chapter is posing a slight challenge because each chapter is written from the viewpoint of one of two main characters. That means I need to climb into a different character’s head and shake the previous one as I move from chapter to chapter. *sigh*

1. Who?
2. What?
3. When?
4. Where?
5. Why?
6. (and sometimes How?)

The 5 W’s (and sometimes H) Explained

Who did it or who’s it happening to?
Example: Ulysses McKenzie

What did "who" do or what did the "who" want to happen?
Example: Ulysses was in a car accident.

When did the "what" occur?
Example: A Sunday afternoon in May

Where did the "what" happen?
Example: The corner of Wiltshire Boulevard and Maple Lane

Why did the "what" happen?
Example: Because Ulysses dropped his iPod on the floor and was bending over to pick it up.

There’s a special note about the why, sometimes we simply don’t know why and that’s OK. As the author, you should know why something happens although you may not reveal it to the readers. It will help you construct the story when you at least have all the parts outlined. The why could even be something internal, for instance, Ulysses could have been distracted because he’d broken up with his girlfriend that morning and he was distraught.

How did the "what" happen?
Example: Ulysses yanked the steering wheel hard right as he reached down for the iPod, the car careened for a few seconds when he realized what was happening and slammed on his brakes and skidded into the tree.

The how is special. It’s where the magic happens. It’s the difference between "he was in an accident" and "his car skidded into a tree at 95MPH". The how is the adornment because it can bring life to otherwise stark facts.

Practical Applications

This lesson drifted back to me as I was editing the novel of the moment and I began thinking of each chapter as its own small story, each with its own 5 W’s (and sometimes H).

So, I decided to put that theory to the test. I grabbed a sheet of paper, at the top I wrote "Chapter 1 Scene 1" and then wrote out:

• who made an appearance in the chapter/scene;
• what they did and what they were supposed to do or wanted to happen;
• when the scenes took place (month, day, day of week, time of day);
• where everything happened (specificity is a wonderful thing);
• and why it happened (the motivations of each character along with any external influences);
• Sometimes the how made it onto the list, but sometimes I deliberately left it out for suspense.

Although I worked at the micro-level (i.e. scenes within chapters), the exercise reminded me that there is also a story happening at the macro-level–the entire book.

• Who? The protagonist(s).
• What? Find star-crossed love in a new city.
• When? Summer 2008 through Winter 2009
• Where? Providence, RI and Crescent Hill, CA
• Why? (sometimes a tough one to summarize on a grand scale) The "who" lost his house, forced to move for work, and finds himself lonely.

Using this method of outlining, I’ve been able to dig deep into each chapter of the story and tighten them up.

Linkin Park Meteora

I was stuck in traffic when the song came on. It was by Linkin Park and I suddenly felt inspired to write a particular scene I’d been putting off because of its delicacy.

In that brief moment when I was able to let my mind drift and just listen to the song, the harsh beat (which is my male lead), the melody (who he is inside) and the words (his desires), I suddenly realized it was the song for his revelation.

Naturally, as soon as I got home, I set my iPod to “Repeat One” and wrote like a mad woman. Now, the scene’s not entirely perfect, but I was finally able to get the emotions, the tension, and the revelation out on paper and it was all thanks to a song.

And for the curious, the song was Somewhere I Belong (listen to the preview). It fits because the male lead in my story is brooding and introverted, he’s done some not-so-nice things in his life, he feels trapped in a bad situation, and doesn’t consider himself worthy of companionship.

Then one evening, while out with the female lead, he finally admits to himself that he wants to feel the love and not hide from it anymore, he wants to get out of the dark place he’s in, he wants to open up to her, and that he wants to be with her–where he belongs. The scene is quite emotional if I do say so myself.

But moving right along, I learned something from that experience: never underestimate the power of a playlist. Listen with a discerning ear and you may be surprised to learn that a particular song lends itself to one of your scenes, or possibly your entire book, or a single character.

(On a slightly similar note, I remember taking the time to choose character songs. Based on each character’s personality, I would select a song for him or her. It’s actually quite helpful when doing the character analysis worksheets and prompts–the song keeps you in the mindset. Now I need to start finding “scene songs.”)

A couple of months ago, I hit a brick wall when it came writing. I’d sit at the computer with my fingers hovering above the keys and nothing would come out. Then I’d move to using the good old fashioned paper and ink method, only to be met with the same results.

One day, as I allowed my mind to drift, it alighted on a memory of a little girl who I let doodle in my large sketchbook. She enlisted me to help her out and while we drew, we created stories to go along with each picture.

Thinking I didn’t have much to lose, I pulled out the giant sketchbook and was surprised to find I felt inspired to write again. As it turns out, my mind was in nonlinear mode. Looking at the screen and the college-ruled paper, both forcing me to write in straight lines, immediately put up a mental wall. But having the large open space of white to write however and wherever I wanted tore that wall down.

So, the next time you find yourself blocked, try changing the medium. You might be surprised with the results.

By the way, those purplish splotches are juice from pomegranate seeds. (I was feeling experimental.)

Recently, I’ve shifted gears. After finishing about 98% of my novel, I’m taking a breather so I can let my mind recuperate. During that time, I’m focused more on writing short stories and I’ve discovered one great feature of LSBXE that helps me churn them out: Builders.

Before we delve into Builders, we must go back a little and review how I organize my work. (The need for this slight deviation should become clear as we progress.)

1: The Setup

LSBXE allows you to create Books. I’ve created a Book aptly titled ‘Short Stories’. This allows me to keep my short story writing separate from any items I happen to be working on.

If you’re already lost, I recommend reading the following tutorials before continuing: Library Tutorial and How to Create a Planner or read my previous tutorial How to Use LSBXE for Your NaNoWriMo Novel which covers the basics.

2: The Organizing

Once upon a time, I created a new Planner for each short story, but I’ve revised this thinking. Instead, I now see my short stories as part of an anthology. Thus, I create an umbrella Planner for each body of stories.

For example ‘Fantasy’. All my fantasy short stories will go in that Planner.

My only exception now is when I’m certain I’m planning an entire series of short stories with the same characters.

Then, for each new story I plan to write, I create a new Planner Item. This is simple enough to do by selecting “Create -> New Item” from the Planner window.

3: The Building

With my Short Stories book and my anthological Planner, it’s time to start building each story.

Builders are very much like Planners on a smaller scale, for fine tuning scenes within chapters. At least, that’s how I see them.

Using one of my recent short stories, I created the new Planner Item and named it after my short story: For the Sake of Love. Then, from the Planner window, I selected “Create -> New Builder“.

When the Builder opened, I was then able to separate the overall story into four parts. (I asked myself, what’s happening in this story and where does it happen? From my answer, I realized there were going to be four scenes.)

I was then able to write the story in its individual parts: Bus Ride, Arrival, Beach, and Suicide. When each of the scenes were complete, I allowed LSBXE to compile them into the whole story for me (as a Chapter in the Planner). That was accomplished by selecting “Builder -> Build All Items“.

Of course, some stories don’t need a Builder because they happen in one area and this is only one use for the Builder. You can use them to help you build the more involved chapters of your novel. But I hope I helped to get the creative cogs turning in your mind.